Siege of Tunis (Mercenary War) 238 BC
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Year | 238 BC | Wikidata P585 (point in time) |
|---|---|---|
| Era | Ancient (before 500) | derived from year |
| Location | Tunisia | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | Africa | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | Mercenary War | Wikidata P361 |
| Participants | Ancient Carthage, mercenary | Wikidata P710 |
| Coordinates | 36.7975, 10.1667 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
During the siege of Tunis in October 238 BC a rebel army under Mathos was besieged by a Carthaginian force under Hamilcar Barca and Hannibal. A portion of the Carthaginian army, which had served in Sicily during the First Punic War, mutinied in late 241 BC in the wake of Carthage's defeat, starting the Mercenary War. After three years of increasingly bitter war, the Carthaginians defeated the rebel field army at the Battle of the Saw, after capturing its leaders. The Carthaginians then moved to besiege the rebels' strongest remaining stronghold at Tunis.
The Carthaginian commander, Hamilcar, split his forces to blockade the rebels from both north and south. At the northern camp, commanded by his subordinate Hannibal, he had the ten captured rebel leaders tortured to death and their bodies crucified before returning to his own base to the south of Tunis. Mathos organised a night attack against Hannibal's camp, which took the ill-disciplined Carthaginian defenders by surprise. It scattered the northern part of their army, and Hannibal and 30 Carthaginian notables were captured. They were tortured, mutilated and crucified still living. Hamilcar withdrew to the north with the remaining half of his army. Despite having broken the siege, Mathos abandoned Tunis and withdrew south.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Siege of Tunis (Mercenary War) (revision 1370746101), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; shortened by selecting paragraphs and trimming at a sentence boundary; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
Nearby battles
- Battle of the Bagradas River (255 BC) 255 BC · 0 km
- Conquest of Tunis (1535) 1535 · 0 km
- Conquest of Tunis (1574) 1574 · 1 km
- Siege of Tunis (1705) 1705 · 2 km
- Siege of Tunis (1694) 1694 · 2 km
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Other battles of the Mercenary War
- Battle of Utica 240 BC
- Battle of the Bagradas River (240 BC) 240 BC
All 3 battles of the Mercenary War →
Browse more: battles in Tunisia · Africa · Ancient battles